These Are The Things
by grazed fingertips
Summary: "What is this?" He held it out and Derek froze for a moment, before slowly taking the yellowing sheet from him and staring at it himself. "It's a list. Things we lost in the fire. Laura and I made it." He smiled softly. "We promised ourselves that one day we'd get it all back." / T for swearing. / COMPLETE (MAYBE.)


Stiles liked helping Derek, even with things like moving all his crap to his new house. He put it down to the fact that he liked that they were friends. That they finally trusted each other like they both trusted Scott. He liked that as Derek moved slowly around a room and it was just the two of them, he'd be totally relaxed. Totally trusting. He wasn't tense, muscles coiled and ears straining. He was happy to just be Derek. Not the Alpha. Not a werewolf. Just Derek. And Stiles loved watching him simply be. There was something about watching the big emotionally screwed up mess that was Derek Hale acting like a regular human being. Not agonizing over anything, just taking life slowly and in his stride and not being on the look out for hunters or other shape shifters or rival packs. Just drinking coffee and reading the paper and moving house and asking a friend, yes a friend, to help him pack up his stuff. It was rare, and Stiles knew that this time tomorrow Derek would probably be calling an emergency Pack meeting because Deaton had said something about the severe change in the migration patterns of Alphyn, meaning there was a super slim pretty much nonexistent chance of them finding their way to Beacon Hills. But that was Derek. Always wanting to be prepared and ready, even though he rarely was. But he tried. And Stiles had to give him credit where credit was due.

But today, Derek was relaxed, slowly sorting through all his belongings and boxing them up, ready to have them moved to his house. They'd finally rebuilt his childhood home, the pack and a few out of town people that owed Derek favors. It looked like it had been sucked out of a photograph and placed in the woods. It was almost an exact replica of how it'd been before Kate. Everybody had been stunned by the finished job, despite being around it for so long and seeing where it was headed. The wolves all whimpered a little as Derek stared, and Stiles figured it was a pack bond thing, but even he felt a small twinge in his chest at the look on Derek's face. It wasn't pained, but it wasn't happy. It was a mixture of the two, and Stiles understood it completely. He shoved Derek lightly in the shoulder, and grinned at him when he turned, blinking the dazed look out of his eyes.

"Welcome home, Derek." He'd said softly, and Derek had simply nodded. He'd looked overwhelmed by the entire thing. Like all of the emotions were just too much. So Stiles had stepped back, and started heading towards the jeep, figuring they'd need to do some wolf pack thing like mark territory when a call had stopped him. "Stiles, where are you going?"

He'd turned, and they'd all been watching him, confusion evident. "I was gonna go." His hand swooped about, a vague hand gesture in the general direction of home. "Leave you to do whatever."

"But you've got to come see the finished product. Take a tour. Pick a room."

He'd blinked slowly. "Room?"

"Yeah." And Derek had given him this slow grin, a genuinely happy one that brought a smile to Stiles' face in turn. "Everyone in the pack has one. This is our home now. Even if you're not here all the time."

And he'd looked around and he'd picked a room and he'd started figuring out where stuff could go and they'd all agreed to help each other out, and that was how he'd ended up in Derek's apartment on a Sunday morning sifting through the contents of an old wooden desk. And that was when he found it, tucked amongst pictures and shopping lists and gas station receipts. He'd squinted at the piece of paper in his hand, before blinking a few times in surprised confusion and looking up at Derek.

"What is this?" He held it out and Derek froze for a moment, before slowly taking the yellowing sheet from him and staring at it himself.

"It's a list. Things we lost in the fire. Laura and I made it." He smiled softly. "We promised ourselves that one day we'd get it all back."

It wasn't a long list. But it was a hard list. Stiles struggled to read it without shifting and tapping and looking away every now and again, and he couldn't imagine the mindset that Derek and his sister must've been in to write it. And in some ways, it was hard to imagine replacing some of the things that had been lost. Although now Stiles looked again, most of the things had been already, really. The years they'd all been together had rebuilt some of the bridges Kate Argent had burnt.

"Well." He scratched the back of his head. "You've got your house back now." Derek was staring at him, and he stood, pacing a little and looking anywhere but him. "So that's that one done."

"Stiles." There was a tinge of something in his voice that Stiles couldn't place, so he simply plowed on through.

"You can make new memories with us. Hell, you have been for the past couple of years. Yeah they're not all great, but they still count. They got us where we are now and where we are now is pretty awesome if I do say so myself."

"Stiles." It was weaker now, less objecting.

"Belongings." He chewed his lip for a moment. "You've got some old stuff from storage. We can match it up with other stuff we find in old shops. Ebay will probably have pieces from different sets wafting around. They won't be exactly the same but it'll look it, if that's what you want. Or we can just replace it all. If you want to start fresh. But that one… it's hard because you'll have to let go. Of what they had. Of what you had when you were there before. But it can be done. And everybody will help you get through it."

He was simply watching now, a weird look on his face.

"Heirlooms. You can make your own. The Camero and that jacket of yours. I'd be happy if my dad gave me a car and a sweet piece of leather clothing." He grinned a little. "If I have kids they're getting the jeep and I'm gonna tell them if they sell it I'll come back and haunt them. So your heirlooms can be special. Weird. Like you. They can have hidden sentiments in every seam and corner."

That got a snort out of him, and Stiles relaxed a little.

"Pack." He gave Derek a look. "You know you have a Pack now, no matter how dysfunctional. And we're family now too. You're stuck with us, Hale, no matter what. And you'll probably regret it a lot of the time when Scott whines about Allison and Isaac follows you around like a lost puppy trying to be a wolf and Boyd and Erica make freaky wolf love a few doors down from you and I never shut up and go off on tangents all the time but it'll be awesome, every other day, and you know that it makes up for all that shit."

His eyes lingered on the next one, and he saw Derek shift out of the corner of his eye. "Sleep?" He asked.

"I used to have nightmares."

"Understandable. Are they better now?"

"Sort of. They still… hover. In the back of my head."

"Well you'll be in a house full of fucked up. You won't be alone there. We can bond at 3AM in the living room and eat cold pizza and have puppy piles." He waved a hand, dismissing Derek's confused expression. "You'll find out what they are eventually. And happiness'll get to you. It'll seep into your bones and consume you whole heartedly when you least expect it and it'll be the most terrifying and comforting thing you've ever experienced in your entire wolf life." He sighed, and stared at Derek. "And everybody in this pack loves you in one way or another. You're papa wolf. You're a big brother. The Alpha. The big-"

"Yeah. I get it, Stiles." His head was ducked but he could hear the small smile.

"Good." He said, tucking the list into his pocket. "And don't forget it. Seriously. Or I'll wash your bed sheets in Wolfsbane extract."

* * *

_sigh i liked this one, but it was kinda awkward and i felt bad for making derek go through it idk? but yeah i might do a sequel or add more chapters later like a chapter for each thing on the list if you guys dig that idea? review and let me know! _


End file.
